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DSM-VI: Reality TV Disorder?

By John M. Grohol, Psy.D.

You know how I like to pick apart professionals who make all sorts of logical fallacies when suggesting new diagnoses off the cuff because they’ve personally seen a rise of such cases. Sorry, it’s my failing, and I’m working on it. But in the meantime…

It’s …

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DSM-VI: Reality TV Disorder?

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  1. Great post :) I’m trying to think of all the different movies people could potentially identify with the characters of leading to new disorders, I wonder what kind of licensing arrangments could be invovled with different studios. Perhaps Hollywood might become as influential as Big Pharma when it comes to continuing education ;) of course, I’m still rooting for Depressive Personality Disorder to become a new diagnosis, but I suppose its due to self-interest in that I own http://www.DepressivePersonalityDisorder.com

    Perhaps the Psychiatrists have some interest in royalties from the Truman Show? ;) I have to be honest though, I can quote the Godfather and I vaguely remember that Jim Carrey was in the Truman Show. I would think that Godfather may have had more of a lasting influence on many of our patients, though I suppose this whole comment is a bit of a tangent ;) I certainly wouldn’t argue a Godfather Personality Disorder for someone walking around committing Antisocial Acts such as murder but attending the funeral and saying it was just business, nothing personal ;)

  2. I guess I’m not well-informed; I think of reality TV as people so desperate for what might be fifteen minutes of fame they beg for public humiliation and willingly risk their relationships with family. So I wasn’t aware some psychiatrists are diagnosing people with “TV illnesses”. With that in mind, my youngest daughter is pre-delusional, reading everything about the yet-to-be-released movie “Twilight”. My sons, who aren’t in love with any movie or television show, must have disassociative disorders, while their older sister, who is passionate about different bands at different times, obviously has multiple personalities. But my husband…wow. He’s a huge movie buff, and I don’t know how many–from The Breakfast Club to The Godfather–he can recite word-for-word. I thought he was the sane one, but I guess he’s, what? Schizophrenic?
    I don’t like TV. Maybe I’m dead.

  3. NO! This is a real disorder, I was diagnosed with bipolar and skitzophrenia (spell?). But I NEVER told anyone what the real problem was. I THOUGHT I was on a reality show, and everyone in the world was involved. I thought everyone was acting and I was playing a part. It got really bad, I never told anyone that part. And I just found out about this. I’m going to tell my doctor today. I would never have believed that someone else was going through the same thing. This is really extreme

  4. Is “TV Disorder” a valid diagnosis in the mental health world and what behaviors and thought processes does it include?

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